Construction spending totaled $772 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) in June, up 0.2% from the rate in May but down 4.7% from June 2010, the Census Bureau reported on Monday. The estimates for May and April were revised upward by $17 billion (2.2%) and $10 billion (1.4%), respectively.
Monthly gains were concentrated in private nonresidential construction, which rose 1.8% for the month, with increases in nine of the 11 segments that Census breaks out in its press release, but fell 1.3% year-over-year. In descending order of current size, those segments include:
- Power construction, +0.6% for the month and +13% year-over-year
- Commercial (retail, warehouse and farm) construction, +3.1% and +2.3%
- Manufacturing, +4.0% and -11.8%
- Healthcare, +2.3% and -3.0%
- Office, 0.5% and -10.1%
Private residential construction edged down -0.3% and -2.1%, with the largest segment—improvements—down 0.5% and up 8.2%:
- New single-family construction, +0.3% and -11%
- New multifamily, -2.8% and -10%
Public construction dropped -0.7% and -9.6%, with sharp decreases in the two largest components: highway and street construction, -1.6% and -10%; and educational, -4.1% and -13%.